Heat sealable thermo-printable tape

Abstract

A heat-sealable thermoprintable tape includes an extruded thermoplastic coating having a smooth printable surface on a first side, and an extruded heat-seal polymer layer disposed on a second side of the extruded thermoplastic coating, opposite the first side. The extruded thermoplastic coating is bonded to the heat-seal polymer layer to form the heat-sealable thermoprintable tape. A method of forming a heat-sealable thermoprintable tape includes providing a support layer having an open structure configured to support an extruded coating, applying a polyurethane coating onto a first side of the support layer and into open spaces of the open structure to form a top surface, and extruding a heat-sealable polymer onto a second side of the support layer opposite the first side and into the open spaces of the open structure. The polyurethane coating bonds to the heat-sealable polymer within the open structure of the support layer.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A heat-sealable thermoprintable tape for bonding to a fabric, the tape comprising:
 an extruded thermoplastic polyurethane coating having a smooth surface on a first side; 
 a top-coat layer on the smooth surface, the top-coat layer being bonded to the extruded thermoplastic polyurethane coating; and 
 an extruded heat-sealable polymer layer disposed on and bonded to a second side of the extruded thermoplastic polyurethane coating, opposite the first side, the extruded heat-sealable polymer layer having a top side directly contacting the second side of the extruded thermoplastic polyurethane coating and a bottom side that is directly bondable to and embeddable into the fabric without any interposing layers therebetween upon application via a heat-seal process; and a support layer between the extruded thermoplastic coating and the extruded heat-seal polymer layer, the support layer having an open structure, and the extruded thermoplastic coating 
 and heat-sealable polymer are bonded within the open structure of the support layer, 
 wherein the extruded thermoplastic polyurethane coating and top-coat layer cooperate to form the thermoprintable tape having a printable surface. 
 
     
     
       2. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the printable surface has a surface roughness (RA) of at most 50 μin as measured by a profilometer. 
     
     
       3. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the printable surface has a surface roughness is 10 to 40 μin as measured by a profilometer. 
     
     
       4. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the extruded thermoplastic coating has a Shore Hardness of 45 to 98 A. 
     
     
       5. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the open structure of the support layer is defined by a void content of 10 to 50% by volume. 
     
     
       6. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 5 , wherein the support layer is a polyester scrim having a thread count of 150 to 200. 
     
     
       7. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 5 , wherein the scrim is a polyester scrim. 
     
     
       8. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the top-coat layer is bonded to the extruded thermoplastic coating without any interposing layers therebetween. 
     
     
       9. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the extruded thermoplastic coating and the extruded heat-sealable polymer are made of the same polyurethane material. 
     
     
       10. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the top-coat layer is an aliphatic polycarbonate polyurethane top coat layer. 
     
     
       11. The heat-sealable thermoprintable tape of  claim 1 , wherein the heat-sealable thermoprintable tape is heat sealable to the fabric such that a bottom surface of the heat-sealable polymer layer, opposite the top surface, is embeddable into and bondable with the fabric, and the heat-sealable thermoprintable tape has a pull strength of 30 to 50 lbs/in 2  when the heat-sealable thermoprintable tape is bonded to the fabric as measured according to ASTM D1876. 
     
     
       12. A method of forming a heat-sealable thermoprintable tape bondable to a fabric, the method comprising:
 providing a support layer having an open structure configured to support an extruded coating; 
 applying a polyurethane coating onto a first side of the support layer and into open spaces of the open structure to form a top surface; 
 applying a top-coat layer on the top surface to form a printing surface; and 
 extruding a heat-sealable polymer onto a second side of the support layer opposite the first side and into the open spaces of the open structure such that the polyurethane coating bonds to the heat-sealable polymer within the open structure of the support layer to form a tape, the heat-sealable polymer having a top side directly bonded to the polyurethane coating and a bottom side opposite the top side, 
 wherein upon application of the tape to the fabric via a heat-seal process, the bottom side of the heat-sealable polymer is bondable and embeddable into the fabric. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein applying the top-coat layer includes gravure coating an aliphatic coating. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12 , wherein applying the polyurethane coating includes reverse-roll printing the polyurethane coating. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the open structure of the support layer is defined by a void content of 10 to 50% by volume. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the printing surface has a surface roughness (RA) of at most 50 μin as measured by a profilometer. 
     
     
       17. A method of forming a heat-sealable thermoprintable tape comprising:
 applying a heat-sealable polymer on to a support layer having an open structure to form a first composite, the heat-sealable polymer having a top side within the open structure of the support layer and a bottom side opposite the top side on a first releasable paper; 
 applying an aliphatic coating to a second releasable paper; 
 applying a polyurethane coating directly on to the aliphatic coating on the second releasable paper to form a second composite; and 
 bonding the top side of the heat-sealable polymer of the first composite directly to the polyurethane coating of the second composite within the open structure of the support layer with heat and pressure to form the heat-sealable thermoprintable tape having a printable surface, 
 wherein the heat-sealable thermoprintable tape is appliable to a substrate by removing the first releasable paper and bonding the bottom side of the heat-sealable polymer to the substrate via a heat-seal process, and indicia can be printed on the printable surface after removing the second releasable paper. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the printing surface has a surface roughness (RA) of at most 50 μin as measured by a profilometer. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the applying of the polyurethane coating includes chemically bonding the aliphatic coating to the polyurethane coating via a cross-linker in one or both of the polyurethane coating and the aliphatic polycarbonate polyurethane coating.